The Reading Guru is hosting an excerpt from romantic suspense novel “Trapped” today. We hope you enjoy the excerpt!

Book Excerpt

Something is wrong!

There is no pain, no discomfort, no feeling…but Jackee knows something is wrong. This strange new sense tells her things she shouldn’t perceive.

Something isn’t working right, and there is no one there to tell.

Goddamn Phil! The bastard left me just when I might really need him. It’s the first time I’ve been totally alone since the surgery.

What a lousy coincidence if something bad…..

Or is it? Can I really be that unlucky? Has that louse managed something dangerous for me? Christ, how paranoid! What could he possibly….

She gasps, suddenly struggling to breathe.

That smell!

The acrid sting of bile, slowly swamping her nasal passages, ignited a fire in her brain. Tears blur her eyes. Drawing even a single breath is suddenly a distressing task.

Reality rears up like an angry dragon….

Stomach acid!

Somehow its corrosive bath is sneaking around her feeding tube and into her esophagus, mingling with her breath, searing her senses. She’d heard how painful that could be. The only advantage to her current state…no pain. But why this difficulty in breathing? Lying flat on her back probably made things worse, but….

OhmyGod! Arlene Callahan! She “shudders” at that terrifying memory.

An undiagnosed diabetic, her college sorority sister hadn’t felt well one afternoon. She went to her room for a nap, suffered a diabetic seizure, convulsed, and threw up. Unable to move, she lay breathing acid fumes from her own bile. Her lungs were so badly damaged, she needed a respirator for the rest of her short life.

Can that happen to me? My God! Did Phil cause this? Somehow I know…..

She wheezes, light-headed. The virulent stench makes even a shallow breath labored.

Oh, God! Oh, God! Smothered by my own body. Where the Hell’s Maria? Been gone way too long. Phil sent her to the….

Oh, that bastard! Said he didn’t know she was gone, but he sent her. Damn him! Did he deliberately empty the house, even sending poor Malcolm to school?

But how can he possibly…?

She tries inhaling short, shallow breaths, but has difficulty controlling her tempo.

Trapped

Title: Trapped

Author: George A. Bernstein

Genre: Romantic Suspense

The darkness is still, silent. Jackee Maren’s heart pounds reverberating through her body as fear sears her veins. Someone’s coming. No way out. This time they will kill me. Her breath is short, her chest burns. Must run. Faster. Faster! Her eyes fly open, her heart still racing with blinding fear. Jackee breathes deeply with relief and stares at the ceiling desperately trying to calm herself. The same dream. Something, someone is watching… and waiting.

A tragic car accident leaves beautiful, vibrant Jackee Maren completely paralyzed, mentally alert but trapped in “Locked-in Syndrome,” able to move only her eyes. Jackee’s husband, Phil, is devastated and her two young boys left with nothing but a shell for a mother, but still, Jackee senses the foreboding of an evil presence and knows time is short.

Slowly, Jackee learns to communicate with her physical therapist, Kevin, by blinking her eyes. As evidence comes to light that her car accident was no accident, Jackee knows she must expose the person who wants her dead before they get a second chance.

While Jackee works her mind to put all the clues together, she discovers she has the ability to sense the thoughts of others, but she hides this talent from everyone but her sons, not knowing whom she can trust. By actively exercising her new psychic ability, Jackee finally learns who masterminded the accident but seems helpless to stop them from trying to kill her again.

Slowly a psychic plan forms to not only ensure her boys are safe forever, but to exact revenge on her would-be murderer. Jackee vows not to rest until this would-be-killer understands what it is to be TRAPPED! But she must hurry, with only a year to live.

Author Bio

George Bernstein is a youthful seventy-seven-year-old, with a B.A. from Northwestern University, now living in south Florida with Dolores, his wife of 54 years. He is the retired president of a publicly held Chicago company.
George’s main interest now is as a serious novelist. He has attended numerous writers’ conferences and seminars, including that of famous fiction agent, Donald Maass, and he has worked with independent editor, Dave King, all with the goal of improving his craft.
George’s first novel, Trapped, is published by TAG Publishers, after being a finalist in their Next Great American Novelcontest. Dee Burks and her staff really love the story, and have put a lot of effort into comprehensive editing and revision suggestions, making Trapped the best it can be. Trapped was also a finalist at the 2012 Florida Writers Association RPLA fiction contest, and has since acquired over seventy 4 & 5-Star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

George has also recently released his 2nd novel, A 3rd Time to Die, which has been received with several 4 & 5-Star reviews. The most common comment for both novels is: “I couldn’t put it down.”

1 Response to Book Excerpt from Trapped

Thanks for hosting TRAPPED on my VBT. We authors really appreciate all the work you guys with these blog sites, and the exposure you give us to your many followers. I know it’s time consuming. I’d be happy to respond to any questions your followers may have. There’s a lot of interest in Locked-in Syndrome, and I spent a lot of time researching real occurances. It’s scary that many people who were mentally alert but unable to communicate, were disconnected from life support because they were though to be brain dead.